As of this writing, HR 2499 has 62 cosponsors! Please help us reach our goal of getting to 100 this year. At the end of this newsletter you’ll find the cosponsor list as of this publication – if you do not see your Representative’s name please write again at your earliest convenience, using the link to the left. You’ll notice that the template letter on the submission form has been changed to mention the March 6th Lymphedema Awareness Day, and that it makes a special plea for Representatives to sign on as cosponsors this month. It is also shortened in the hopes that you will each personalize the letter – this makes such a difference. In an effort to make sure every office is reached, we are looking for volunteers to write all of the Representatives in their state, in addition to their own. This can be done by simply submitting multiple letters through our website, selecting a different Representative each time. Or, I can email you the template letter along with all of the email addresses for the offices in your state, so you can simply copy and paste and send these from your personal email. Please let me know if you would like this information. Regarding finding a sponsor for the bill in the Senate, we are still working on this. Three offices have contacted Congressman Kissell’s office (our House sponsor) with interest. They are Cardin of Maryland, Merkley of Oregon and Inouye of Hawaii. But so far none have officially decided to sponsor a companion bill, so please also write your Senators using the link to the left, especially if you are a constituent of one of the three Senate offices I named. And lastly, a big thank you to those who responded to last month’s call for volunteers. As a result, one such person offered her services as a translator and we now have a Spanish version of our flyer, which can be seen and downloaded here: http://lymphedematreatmentact.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/LE_Bill_1page_info_sheet_Spanish.pdf.

Upon request, you can also now receive a copy of this Newsletter in Spanish.